11.b By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters, and develop and implement, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, holistic disaster risk management at all levels

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Dear All,I would like to thank you all for your partcipation. Many important issues, solutions and local perspectives were brought forward and discussed. They definetly helped me understand things better and I am sure did the same for other who read or will read them. The content from these discussions will be presented to the Forum in a special session. I will try to make sure that as much representation of your views at WWF as possible. regardsFaiz

Demographic growth and migration will transform metropolitan cities and regions in the next decades and for this it is necessary to better plan public spaces with leisure and greener areas, humanization of public spaces (bridges, crossings, cycle paths) and generate a feeling to the water resources in these areas (recover and preserve), after all the rivers, springs are part of the story of the place as well. As opportunities we will have partnerships with universities and researchs centers, generation of new jobs and new urban planning laws, respecting vocations for tourism, leisure and sports in some areas....Read more

Demographic growth and migration will transform metropolitan cities and regions in the next decades and for this it is necessary to better plan public spaces with leisure and greener areas, humanization of public spaces (bridges, crossings, cycle paths) and generate a feeling to the water resources in these areas (recover and preserve), after all the rivers, springs are part of the story of the place as well. As opportunities we will have partnerships with universities and researchs centers, generation of new jobs and new urban planning laws, respecting vocations for tourism, leisure and sports in some areas. As challenges we will have to know how to work with multidisciplinary teams and involve the population in the discussions. Furthermore the sustentable planning of the cities is very important because some diseases will dessapear.

Demographic growth and migration will transform metropolitan cities and regions in the next decades and for this it is necessary to better plan public spaces with leisure and greener areas, humanization of public spaces (bridges, crossings, cycle paths) and generate a feeling to the water resources in these areas (recover and preserve), after all the rivers, springs are part of the story of the place as well. As opportunities we will have partnerships with universities and researchs centers, generation of new jobs and new urban planning laws, respecting vocations for tourism, leisure and sports in some areas....Read more

Demographic growth and migration will transform metropolitan cities and regions in the next decades and for this it is necessary to better plan public spaces with leisure and greener areas, humanization of public spaces (bridges, crossings, cycle paths) and generate a feeling to the water resources in these areas (recover and preserve), after all the rivers, springs are part of the story of the place as well. As opportunities we will have partnerships with universities and researchs centers, generation of new jobs and new urban planning laws, respecting vocations for tourism, leisure and sports in some areas. As challenges we will have to know how to work with multidisciplinary teams and involve the population in the discussions. Furthermore the sustentable planning of the cities is very important because some diseases will dessapear.

Dear All,I would like to thank you all for your partcipation. Many important issues, solutions and local perspectives were brought forward and discussed. They definetly helped me understand things better and I am sure did the same for other who read or will read them. The content from these discussions will be presented to the Forum in a special session. I will try to make sure that as much representation of your views at WWF as possible. regardsFaiz

Satisfaction to be able to talk with everyone, about the topics that were raised during the discussions and presentations by all participants of the His Voz Portal.

I would like to ask all the Moderators and those responsible for the Your Voices Portal of the 8th World Water Forum to keep the portal open during the presentations, discussions and after the presentations of the proposals by the participants in the Portal, the presentation of the contributions to the President of the World Water Forum and all representatives of the participating countries.

I believe that these actions will serve to change the reality of several countries, including Brassil and the Federal District, that cross water and social crises, taking from the vulnerability, populations that need not only the governmental and international financial resources, to reverse the calamity (floods - deaths that could be avoided), as well as to give people and society the opportunity to accompany the governments and the actions taken at the 8th World Water Forum - to be held in Brasília - Federal District, so that we necessary resources, voice and time to accompany and have greater social control over governmental resources - permanent projects and programs aimed at guaranteeing quality water for all the families of the planet, thus raising human dignity, with studies, use of new technologies, the presenvation of the springs, water courses, areas of permanent preservation.

Therefore, believing in the condition of ensuring that the Seu Voz Portal is maintained after the 8th World Water Forum, I place the entire disposition of those responsible for forming a working group of organized civil society, socio-environmental entities, members of the Academies, Government , Entrepreneur, to follow the results of the deliberations in each country participating in the 8th Forum, to guarantee financial resources, development of projects and programs for water resources.

Certain of being contemplated in my requests, I put the whole disposition with my Students of the Center of High School Taguatinga North - Brasília - Federal District.

Report on the participation of the Students of the Taguatinga Norte High School - Brasília / Federal District, during the 5th National Conference on the Youth and Environment of the Federal District, coordinated by the Education Department of the Federal District , where they had the great opportunity to participate in the event, enriching the knowledge, which had as its theme: Let's take care of Brazil, taking care of the waters.

Taguatinga North High School

Professor Coordinator: Davi Silva Fagundes

I Report of the participation of the Students of the Taguatinga Norte High School in the Fifth National Conference of the Children and Youth of the Environment of the Federal District

Location: EAPE - School of Improvement of Education Professionals of the Federal District

Date: 2/27/2018 Shift: Daytime

Both in the programming of the thematic workshops and in the lectures given by the organs present on the first day of the V CNIJMA - National Youth Children's Conference of the Federal District, we could see not only the presentation and discussion of the theme of this year "Let's take care of the Brazil taking care of the waters, "but we could also have contact with projects already carried out in schools in the Federal District and others that are still in this process, and this we saw through those responsible for the event and also through the contact with other DF institutions present, some of the principles presented by the Youth Collective of the Federal District: "Youth educates young people" and "one generation learns from the other".

On that first day, we could also see in a very comprehensive way, not only for the theme, but also for being a major problem today our protagonist "the water".

We became aware of problems that result in water scarcity, such as population increase, irregular systems for water capitation, poor use of water by the population, being in a larger domestic area, but also having great relevance in the industrial and agricultural areas.

Soon after the presentation of these problems, some solutions have been put in place, some of which are already being implemented and others that unfortunately are far from being considered by our current government. And being our preparation as one of the objectives of this conference, during the whole process in that first instant we were instructed to the future stages (new conferences), by the question "how to elaborate a project?". Question that was answered in four steps.

Finally, in the thematic workshops, being the red color used by the CEMTN Students (a way that the organizers of the event used to separate groups of young people in these thematic workshops), I could be more aware of the true situation that we are living today in the scarcity of water resources, that from the mistaken thoughts of years ago today we live this reality that water is finite and that every day we are closer to your lack and further away from taking action to avoid this.

And beyond this awareness in workshops, we were able to put projects in practice, such as composting, we understand better about recycling and its importance and how it affects the lives of many waste pickers.

As a result of this first day, we could see that the environment directly affects our society in everything from quality of life to economic and social development, among others.

It is definitely a wonderful initiative, bringing youth to such events and having them activily participate is essential to develop the sense of respnsibility and preparing them to take the lead. I highly appreciate you shared this and I will try my best to bring it in WWF.

Thanks Prof Davi Silva Fagundes for comprehensive and important comment. We will cerainly imclude your issues and points in our summary to be given at the end to be used as a possible input to the WWF discussionns.

Sharing an important article on Cape Town water crisis. As you would be knowing, Cape Town is going through a drought caused by 3 years of low rainfall putting restrictions on water use on people and developing other measures.

Recently, they have started a dashboard where you can see people water consumption. It is done to encourage people who have reduced and ecnourage others to do so. Has been debated on privacy part but desperate times call for desperate measures. Illustrates the role of data and ICT tools.

Thanks for the comment. You are right in pointing out that Brazil has largest resources in world but equally important is the distribution within country which might not be equal. Though, I am sure if manage efficiently, it can be sufficient in any part. Brazil with forests also would play a big role in climate action thus it is encouraging to see Brazil government eager to make/amend laws and interested in organising events such as WWF 2018.

Many large countries have one regulator (Brazil) with state/provice wide set ups. Countries also have state level regulators to address diversity and geographic problems. In many countries the concept of multi regulators “water, energy and forest” is also functional to achieve economy of scale. But without regulator I doubt as regulator is like a referee of football match. Imagine Football World Cup final 2018 between Uruguay and Brazil without a referee!!

Many large countries have one regulator (Brazil) with state/provice wide set ups. Countries also have state level regulators to address diversity and geographic problems. In many countries the concept of multi regulators “water, energy and forest” is also functional to achieve economy of scale. But without regulator I doubt as regulator is like a referee of football match. Imagine Football World Cup final 2018 between Uruguay and Brazil without a referee!!

Achievement of 6.1 and 6.2 SDG targets are dependent on many factors ranging from sector policies to effective instantiations and from predictable financing to citizens engagement. One among many missing links in developing countries is non exitance of “sector regulator”. Developed world like US, Canada, Europe and Australian continents/regions all have strong sector regulator responsible for economic (tariff setting) and quality of services. Even Malta a tiny European county of 420,000 people and of 316 sq/km has a sector regulator but South Asian giants like India a country of 1.2 Billion population and 3,287,263 sq/km area, Pakistan 207 Million population as 881, 913 sq/km and Bangladesh 162 Million and 170,547 sq/km are without sector regulators since last 70 years.

India’s role is considered to be crucial in addressing global issues on mitigating climate change,”Systemic thinking is urgently needed to build cities and their infrastructure to increase resilience to cope with the challenges they face. Inda faces huge challenges in their municipalities, from inadequate infrastructure to vulnerability to disaster ris...Read more

India’s role is considered to be crucial in addressing global issues on mitigating climate change,”Systemic thinking is urgently needed to build cities and their infrastructure to increase resilience to cope with the challenges they face. Inda faces huge challenges in their municipalities, from inadequate infrastructure to vulnerability to disaster risks. But in the place of insufficient services and facilities is firm determination to deliver more and to innovate towards results. Indian city’s plans to ease traffic congestion and reduce emissions by preparing a bus rapid transit system, enacting regulations to control air pollution, promoting non-motorized transport options, and investing in new infrastructure through PPPs. India platform intends to be a multi-sectoral partnership for knowledge-sharing and building capacity of state-level actors, and to link investments with technical assistance required to generate bankable projects. The initiative is expected to complement existing national urban initiatives, including the Smart Cities program, which promotes energy efficiency, resilient infrastructure, and compact and mixed-use development for 100 cities across India.

City leaders can customize the Urban Sustainable Framework to identify the policy options that are most politically, technically, and fiscally feasible, to invest in cities that are more resilient to climate change and embody urban management that is both participatory and inclusive,”

I am a water professional based in Pune. This is a busy Indian city in the western part of India. There are 2 rivers flowing through the heart of the city. Unfortunately in a sad state due to inadequate wastewater treatment and waste management....Read more

I am a water professional based in Pune. This is a busy Indian city in the western part of India. There are 2 rivers flowing through the heart of the city. Unfortunately in a sad state due to inadequate wastewater treatment and waste management.

The good news is that there have been efforts made by the local bodies and few key private agencies to clean up the city and protect water resources. For example an STP is compulsory for all new housing societies and complexes, waste segregation is mandatory.

Also there are hopes from grants such as the recent one from JICA that will be utilised to increase the wastewater treatment capacity of Pune as well as upgrade the existing systems. Recruitment and planning for this has already started.

Thanks Neha for your comment. I have also read about some of the good work being done in Pune specially Pimpri-Chinchwad. I have seen the waste segregation but is STP are also being establish and if so, who bears the responsibility of maintaining the quality as it requires expertise ?

Also, does Pune have existing STP capacity to treat waste from city ? As in most of the Indian cities, it is lacking so I am curious to know where pune stands on this aspect and new measures being taken.

In addition to Faiz question I think you should also share the some initial results of JNNURM which was great boost to improve municipal services through ULBs and also the "City Ranking" concept which again is a great initiative to infuse a spirit of competition among cities. Thanks

In addition to Faiz question I think you should also share the some initial results of JNNURM which was great boost to improve municipal services through ULBs and also the "City Ranking" concept which again is a great initiative to infuse a spirit of competition among cities. Thanks

Thanks Flavio for the comment and sharing the project that is being carried out. Nice to know that innovatinve and active action is being taken foe water pollution which is one area where urbanisation is having a significant impact. Do you have any project website/document to share that can be read by other participant too ?

Thank you for your reply. It seems to me that you are facing mainly quality related problems in Brazil. Here in Abadan the problem stems from the high quantity of water, namely elevated groundwater levels as mentioned in my initial comment; but it then leads to quality issues. Specifically I am very keen to know about the ways to stop the seepage of seawater into urban areas through subsurface path. If we pump out the groundwater, which is actually intruded seawater, it is then replaced by incoming seawa...Read more

Thank you for your reply. It seems to me that you are facing mainly quality related problems in Brazil. Here in Abadan the problem stems from the high quantity of water, namely elevated groundwater levels as mentioned in my initial comment; but it then leads to quality issues. Specifically I am very keen to know about the ways to stop the seepage of seawater into urban areas through subsurface path. If we pump out the groundwater, which is actually intruded seawater, it is then replaced by incoming seawater. A solution may be to increase the elevation of the land surface by using materials such as sands and silt and piling/compacting them on the surface, something like “land reclamation”. If this is done, then the elevation of the lad surface will become higher than the sea level, and a topographic gradient is established from land surface toward the sea. Also, the surface water flow or urban runoff flows toward the sea.

Near surface groundwater levels causes considerable problems in coastal cities, sometime insurmountable. A typical of such cities is Abadan in southwest Iran, on the shores of the Persian Gulf. In Abadan, seawater seeps into city’s neighborhoods via subsurface pathways. Seepage areas turn into salt pans in summer season because of evaporative concentration. In addition, in areas where underground seawater level is close to the land surface, loose ground surface does not sufficiently support any form of civil construction; roads subside, buildings tilt and open holes develop into streets. In the other hand, elevated seawater level does not allow any surface water to percolate downward, neither does it allow any leaking sewerage to be absorbed by subsurface medium. As a consequence, surface run off fill up the streets in rainy days and leaking sewer emerges into land surface. Low topographic gradient exacerbate and complicate all these issues. It slows down the movement of urban runoff into Persian Gulf. As a Professor of Groundwater hydrology who lives in Abadan, I would like to raise these issues at the 8th World Water Forum discussion and learn from the experience of the other countries in tackling numerous water issues in coastal cities.

Thank you for your comment. Of course integrating SDGs is a solution. However the lack of awarness among both government officials and public, the inadequaty of funds, the harshness of geological, topographical and hydrogeological settigs and transboudary issues (because the city I am taking about is located close to border) all complicate the solution and make it difficult. In a foreseable future I do not see much hope of alleviating the issue I raised, i.e. consequences of elevated groundwater level in coastal cities.

In my opinion, the most important challenge is lack of integrated planning using efficient technologies in Pakistan. The concerned departments have no proper integrated plan in order to utilize the scarce resources optimally. Therefore, a large amount of budget is being wasted in the form of repeating activities. Being a developing country, we have limited resources in terms of finance, human resource, infrastructure, etc. We have to realize its importance and should not start any development work independently. There is need to discuss with concerned department and most importantly, with community for which the development work is going to be done. We should understand that these resources have finite value and will be finished one day, if it will not be used optimally. There is an immense need to prepare development plan (master plan, action area plan, outline development plan) using participatory approach before starting anything randomly. Although, plans are prepared in Pakistan but they are not much efficient in terms of their spatial component. The use of Multi-criteria approach and GIS technology can make these plan ten times more effective and efficient and the available resources will be well-utilized.

There is no question on importance of Integrated plans, master plans and plans BUT one has to take the stock that how many plans have seen the light and implemented in letter and spirit. There are, in my opinion, two main reasons, for non-implementation of such plans 1) quality of plans and capacity of institutions to understand and implement these plans 2) political interference. Many plans are non-sensitive to politics and politics and political interference is a reality. So why don’t we engage politicians in preparing plans so there is a ownership from top.

There is no question on importance of Integrated plans, master plans and plans BUT one has to take the stock that how many plans have seen the light and implemented in letter and spirit. There are, in my opinion, two main reasons, for non-implementation of such plans 1) quality of plans and capacity of institutions to understand and implement these plans 2) political interference. Many plans are non-sensitive to politics and politics and political interference is a reality. So why don’t we engage politicians in preparing plans so there is a ownership from top.

I agree with your observations. This is true in Pakistan. Politicians are one of the important influential persons in any development work. I have worked very closely with Local Government and marginalized community in Lahore. I have seen that how politicians interest can change the game and there is no importance of any plan at that time. Politicians are one of the stakeholders in implementation of participatory approach. They are as much important to involve in preparing any development plan as much community is. One of the bitter reality is that needs of the targeted community is not catered and they are not involved in any plan. I think, it is needed to realize that community is main stakeholder. If all the development is doing for community then where is community in preparing plan and decision making process.

Why I considered lack of integrated planning an important challenge? There are two reasons for it.

As you see in Pakistan, there is lot of funded donor based projects. A large amount of money is being spent on these projects. There is qualified staff and a group of consultants who take heavy salries. If, during the projects, we work intelligently, catering local needs and adopting suitable procedures then quality can be good and our resources of Pakistan can be save.

During my work in low income areas, I have seen very close that there is repetition of activities due to lack of action area plan. A budget is being spent on the construction of roads/streets. After one year, the need of development of sewerage arises. When sewerage or any other utility infrastructure like water supply will be developed, road has to be constructed again. In this way, budget is being wasted. This is just an example. There are lots of examples which we see in our surroundings. We should think to utilize our scarce resources optimally.

Similarly, there are many more important points from designing to implementation stage. And Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) model called (Component Sharing Model) is a good practice through which sewerage problem of Orangi Town, one of the biggest slums of Asia has been solved. They involve all the stakeholders including politicians and community. Therefore, there is no maintenance issue for government because community owns it. I think, CSM should be adopted in many development projects to use our available resources efficiently and effectively.

Glad to see a healthy discussion going on with some wonderful ideas floating around. In my view CSM also requires political will as the people in one way or the other are connected to poiltics and politicians. I have seen motivated communities fail in self-driven initiatives due to lack of the political will. And further adding to Masroor's words "we have played enough of the planning game" lets try the next level "implementation"

Yes i am totally agree with you and Mr. Mansoor. This is right any stakeholder is a part of CSM including politicions. They are very important stakeholder, no doubt. I have also involved in replicating CSM in Lahore's marginalized community through the platform of MUAWIN. In that process, politicions were involved in multiple interventions in their areas but they are still missed in many processes. We really need to realize their importance.

Thanks Madiha for sharing orangi town story, reading about it gives a good perspective on how stakeholders involvement can make a big difference.

Agreeing with Masroor that we should keep in mind politics and work with politicians rather then shying away from it as they are the elected representatives and their cooperation can go a long way in sustaining the work/developement.

Yes, SDGs are being part of future development projects in Pakistan. Even , SDGs are being taught in academic institutions also. Many government institutions have realized its importance and considering it. But, to achieve these goals, strategies and procedure need to be more focused, intellegent and effective.

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The World Water Forum is the world’s biggest water-related event and is organized by the World Water Council (WWC), an international organization that brings together all those interested in the theme of water.